WWE Quarter Finals: AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage: Dog Collar Match

[Shocky]

The Phenomenal AJ Styles vs. The Instant Classic Christian Cage​

The Following matchup takes place in Madison Square Garden, in New York City.

Dog Collar Match: Both competitors will have Dog Collars placed around their necks, with a ten foot chain connecting both men together. The first person to score a pinfall or submission will be the winner.

 

[Gelgarin]

AJ's offence is almost entirely built around being able to create distance from his opponent, be it to build up speed or make use of his surroundings. He’s one of the best high flyers in the industry today, but this is a match which almost totally removes his ability to fly.

In a fight held at close quarters, Cage (the far superior mat wrestler) has the size, strength and technical advantages, and should pick up the win fairly easily.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Beautiful, my speciality: TNA wrestlers. Don't count Cage out just because he's not particularly exciting to watch - he can be pretty calculating at times and downright sneaky. This being a dog collar match, too, and Cage being the larger man, the instant classic may just get an advantage. You may argue that it just makes it difficult to dodge AJ's fast-paced, hard-hitting moves though. I disagree, but you may argue. how long's the chain connecting the dog collar's by the way?

Really, this is quite a close one. This won't produce the intensity of debate as Angle/Malenko or Taker/Yoko may, but it'd still be quite close to call. Cage might win because of his superior exposure, but I find it unlikely. I'd probably go for AJ's pure athleticism and high-flying style in this one. I won't vote yet, though, as I want to see how other members think the dog collar will effect the match. It's also in the WWE, but does that really give Christian any sort of advantage? He's hardly The Rock.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

AJ's offence is almost entirely built around being able to create distance from his opponent, be it to build up speed or make use of his surroundings. He’s one of the best high flyers in the industry today, but this is a match which almost totally removes his ability to fly.

In a fight held at close quarters, Cage (the far superior mat wrestler) has the size, strength and technical advantages, and should pick up the win fairly easily.

I agree with most of this. I don't think it will be easy, and Styles does have some close range moves (The Pele Kick for one) but Cage does have a little extra to work with.

I think Styles is too one-dimensional to go over Cage in a match that restricts movement. Cage has shown he is able to adapt to a mat wrestling or even a brawling style. Cage is also one of the most resourceful men in the ring today, so he'll think of a cool way to use the collar and put Styles down.

It's a shame, since Cage should hve been dropped by Muta last round anyway.

 

[klunderbunker]

I went with cage, but this match is much more intriguing than it soudns. Styles could put together something interesting with that chain if he thought about it. In his prime styles was indeed phenomenal, and could beat anyone he faced. In the end though I still agree with what everyone has said, that with the collar on, styles is just too limited to put up a fight and loses this match, but not as badly as peopel thing.

 

[emperor.indian]

i think both are good and entertaining wrestlers.
christian cage has advantage of experience, exposure power ans slight advantage in mat wresting skills in my opinion
AJ is PHENOMENOL. he can do hi fli moves better than any other main eventors in my opinion.
but the disadvantage is you get seriously hurt if you fall down from a top rope.
christian is going to use his cunningness here. he plays possom........while aj goes to the top rope christian pulls the collar chain to lead aj to fall and take a sick looking bump...........unprettier on the groggy looking aj for the pin

CAPTAIN CHARISMA WINS

 

[Capt. Charisma]

Christian is by far the most underated wrestler in recent times. This is a match I would love to see, hopefully TNA doesn't put this feud off any longer than they have too.

It's also in the WWE, but does that really give Christian any sort of advantage? He's hardly The Rock.

He's not the Rock but he was out popping Cena on RAW so I think he has a pretty solid fan base, more than AJ Styles certainly.

It's a shame, since Cage should hve been dropped by Muta last round anyway.

How should he have?! Muta is a guy that was good for one year when he was feuding with Sting. Since then the guy has sucked, apart from a couple of matches maybe with Flair. People quickly jump to the guys defence when you mention his pathetic WCW runs, especially his second saying it was bad booking. Maybe its because he was 10 years past his prime, but he was still younger than Cage is now, so you can't even give him that excuse. His knees and back was shot after his second run anyway, so I'm totally disregarding any of the crap he put on after '99 anyway. Why do people bum this guy?! Sadly it is because they have seen a couple of matches, assume he's good because he's Japanese. For a guy that people claim was innovitive, or even revolutionary; he was slow, often off balance, clumsy, and massively reliant on spots, more so than Jeff Hardy- as everyone seems to love laying into him lately for it's hypocritical to say Muta is a great wrestler, and Hardy is crap. The only way the guy could get a decent reaction was usualy to spray mist in peoples faces or hide under the ring. He's hardly a legend as some of the marks here are making out. I could count the number of great Great Muta matches on one hand, I'd need about a dozen hands for Cage, and its a similar situation in this match up too regarding the number of great matches both have had, Cage outweighs Styles by about 10-1.

Although AJ is a great wrestler he is yet to reach his potential in TNA outside a few matches with Joe, and Daniels. AJ is a great X-division wrestler, but put him up against someone with the experiance of Cage and you can't put him over Cage. Handicaping AJ in this match takes away about half of Styles's arsenal. However Cage is great in gimmicked matches whether it TLC or Street fights. Styles's lack of experiance in such matches hammers him in this match even further. All Cage needs to do is keep Styles grounded, and he wins, with the Dog Collar keeping him grounded becomes easy, so he wins. In reality though Cage would go over Styles in pretty much any type of match, bar ultimate x or something similar.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Cage wins easily. Styles is an offensive wrestler. Cage is usually the wrestler who takes a beating and then squeeses out a victory. With all of Styles ring rope based maneuvers Cage would just pull him off (the ropes, not his penis).

 

[Capt. Charisma]

Cage has been the suprise package in the tournement so far, and if Cage gets a TLC match next round, HBK or Bigalow are in real trouble as it makes the match far more open. Even I didn't invision Cage been able to get this far, but he certainly deserves it because he is often overshadowed by Edge, and though Edge prehaps slightly edge's Christian, Cage is a fantastic wrestler, and soo underated the guy is pure gold both on mic and in the ring.

I am glad Cage went to TNA not only does he get into the main event people don't realise that he is TNA's HBK. He makes other guys look great, but does so consitantly without making himself look weak at all, in fact the opposite. I actualy find Christian more entertaining than HBK, certainly now anyway. I am glad Cage looks like he's going to win this because AJ though a huge prospect is not there yet, and Cage just keeps advancing, much like his career.

 

[Shocky]

AJ Styles in my opinion, is better then Christian Cage. But Kharma has come back to bite Styles in the ass. Much like last year, the gimmick match favored Styles over Hogan, and Hogan was beaten with tons of controversy. Styles benefited last year but not this year. Not to say that Cage is an amazing mat wrestler, but he's better on the ground then AJ.

AJ's moveset is severly limited in a match up like this. Outside of the Pele, Styles regular moves are almost non existant. Cage wins, and I'm shocked to see him in the Regional SemiFinals, and could go further if he draws a TLC match.